Free tool
Free 5 Whys tool
- Time
- About 10 minutes
- What you'll get
- The cause you can change, one fix, an owner and a dated check, ready to copy.
Take one problem that keeps coming back, ask why until you reach a cause you can change, then set one fix and a dated check. Free, with no sign-up.
The 5 Whys finds the cause of a problem by asking “why?” again and again. Each answer becomes the next question, until you reach something in your own hands. Five is a rule of thumb: stop sooner if you get there, or keep going if you don't.
Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere. It stays in this browser tab, and closing or leaving the page clears it, so copy or print your 5 Whys before you go.
Your 5 Whys
Describe one problem, then answer each why. Stop when the answer is something you can change. What you type stays in your browser and is gone when you close the page, so copy it before you leave.
Your root cause shows here once you've answered a why. It's the last answer in your chain.
You don't have to fill all five. If you stopped at a person ("because Sam forgot"), ask one more why: why does the job depend on Sam remembering?
How to use the 5 Whys tool
- Describe one problem. Say what happens, not who did it: “Invoices go out after the 3rd working day” gives you something to work on.
- Answer each why from evidence. Look at the dates, the emails and the job itself. If you're guessing, say so and go and check.
- Stop when the answer is in your hands. If your chain ends at a person (“because Sam forgot”), ask one more why: why does the job depend on Sam remembering?
- Set one fix, an owner and a check. The fix should remove the cause. The check says how and when you'll know it worked.
- Copy or print it. Your chain appears as a one-page sheet. “Copy my 5 Whys” gives you plain text to paste wherever you keep your notes, and “Print” prints the sheet on its own, to take to a meeting or your manager.
A worked example
This one is made up, from the free pack. At Tamberly Studio, a fictional design studio, client invoices have gone out after the 3rd working day of the month two months running. The first explanation was that the owner was too busy. Asking why gave a different answer:
- Why 1: Why do the invoices go out late? They can't be sent until every timesheet for the month is in.
- Why 2: Why aren't the timesheets in? People fill them in once a month, from memory.
- Why 3: Why does nobody catch that sooner? Nobody owned collecting them.
Three whys were enough, because the third answer was something the studio could change. The fix: timesheets filled in before leaving on Friday, with the person who does the invoicing checking at 16:00. The check: every timesheet in every Friday, and the next month's invoices out on the 3rd working day. Acting on the first explanation would have moved the work to someone less busy and kept the late timesheets.
Common mistakes
- Stopping at a person. “Because Sam forgot” is where the useful questions start, not where they end.
- Answering from memory. Check the dates, emails and the job itself before you write an answer down.
- Writing a fix nobody owns. One fix, one named owner and a date to check, or it won't happen.
- Forcing one chain onto a problem with several causes. If two whys both look true, follow each one, or use a fishbone diagram.
For a worked example, a fishbone diagram for problems with several causes and a template to copy, read our root cause analysis template.
Common questions
What is the 5 Whys method?
A way to find the cause of a problem by asking why it happened, then why that happened, and so on, until you reach a cause you can change. Each answer becomes the next question.
Do you always need five whys?
No. Five is a rule of thumb. Stop when the answer is something in your hands to fix, which might take three whys or seven.
What if the answer is a person?
Ask one more why. "Sam forgot" becomes "why does the job depend on Sam remembering?", and that points to a fix in how the work is set up rather than a telling-off.
When is the 5 Whys the wrong tool?
When a problem has several causes at once. A single chain follows one cause and misses the others. For those, a fishbone diagram works better, and our root cause analysis template has one.
Can I print my 5 Whys?
Yes. Once you've written the problem, your chain shows as a one-page sheet with the cause, the fix, the owner and the check. Print it or copy it as text. Nothing is saved, so do it before you leave the page.
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